LoveItaly

Well Faina and I are somewhat in the same area and consequently I agree with her comments. When I first moved to the Sacramento Valley a friend that I had made here suggested that we take Greyhound to San Francisco. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. I talked to our local PD and they told me not to take Greyhound as the prisoners that are released from our two local prisons take Greyhound to leave town. But that wouldn't be the situation in most areas of course.

Vivi, one of my stepgrandson's took Greyhound from Sacramento to San Francisco a few years ago and he commented later he would have preferred to thumb a ride, lol.

ElendilPickle

The young man who is now our son-in-law spent Christmas with us three or four years ago. It took him three days to get from Albuquerque to Missouri due to ice storms, including a night or two on the floor of the Dallas Greyhound station. He never wants to do that again!

However, depending on where you live and where he is coming from, you might not have that problem.

Lee Ann

happy_train

Wow! I never thought this board would so anti-bus! While I admit that Greyhound is not known for luxury, I have taken the dog many times and been perfectly safe. 97% of the time the bus arrives on schedule. And if you have to sit next to a stranger, it's not worse than the subway! Heaven forbid you actually have to TALK to someone!

Your son will have a fabulous adventure, and will probably come out on the other side more mature.

Go for it!

Anonymous

Well, yes, it's very different from the subway. The ride is longer, there are fewer options to change seats, and if things get really unpleasant, you can't just hop off at the next stop and wait 10 minutes for the next one to come along.

TxTravelPro

It really depends on where you get on and off.. really.

coldkelly

Last year my daughter took Greyhound Milwaukee to Minneapolis- it was fine. I've done it from Milwaukee - Chicago- fine. Different daughter took it from Milwaukee to Little Rock. Not so fine. Switched busses in Memphis at night and it was scary for her walking through the station with her luggage and hauling it into the restroom etc. On return trip she sat next to a strange guy who proceeded to tell her about his "shiney axe" which he then pulled out of his duffle and showed to her. He reeked of pot and who knows what else and his eyes were quite glazed. I think it really depends on what your starting point and destination are. We seem to do ok if staying closer to home, but no more trips outside of this area.

persimmondeb

I've never had an issue, and wouldn't worry about it, but I've only taken it in the Northeast. And yes, the back of the bus can be rowdy. Even in other parts of the country, as long as you would normally describe your son as a sensible adult, it will be fine. My sister (16 or 17 at the time) took it from NY to visit a boyfriend in Va., had to change and got on the wrong bus, and wound up somewhere in the western part of the state, rather than in Richmond. She had to be rescued by the boyfriend (or actually by his mother, I think), and caused my parents a sleepless night (one of many she bestowed on them, I might add), but even that was fine.

vivi

Wow, that was an earful, LOL.

The route is from Sacramento to Eugene, OR. The time contraints are tight due to Thanksgiving dinner
(which is on Friday for us) in Sacto and then the Oregon-OSU game on Saturday. Amtrak arrives too late on Saturday, the plane flights are too convoluted (basically a secondary airport to a secondary airport), to rent a car for the one-way trip is about $400.

The frustrating thing is that he can fly free on a Delta pass (and will do that on the return trip.) But the only way that I have found for him to attend the Friday PM family dinner AND the game is via "the dog."

Son is in early 20's and has had many travel adventures, I told him that if he wants to go to the game bad enough that it will probably be by bus!

gail

While I certainly can not figure out all the dinners, games, etc - according to Kayak.com, Alaska Airways has multiple non-stop flights from Sacramento to Portland, which I think is a couple of hours from Eugene, for $126 one-way. Is there some reason this is not an option? There must be a bus from Portland to Eugene that is less torturous than the 9 hour overnight bus.

TxTravelPro

Gosh, I would not worry about a 20 something year old taking Greyhound from Sacramento to Eugene.

Personally, in this case I would probably rent a car one way.

Anonymous

Or maybe even round-trip. Yes, that's a lot of hours of driving, but we all know that a 2-hour flight is really a 5-hour trip anyway.

vivi

Yeah, I may tell him to bite the bullet and rent a one-way car---they are $100 a day (!!!!) because of the interstate drop-fee. But he could eat early PM dinner with the family, then start driving, return it within 24 hours to the EUG airport, and then fly back to LAX free on Delta.

The flying schedules just dont mesh within this short time frame. And yes, he investigated flying into PDX but there would still be a rental car involved. (The Hut Shuttle from PDX to EUG is no longer in service.)

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES

sf7307

Yeah, I may tell him to bite the bullet and rent a one-way car---they are $100 a day (!!!!) Does that take into account that he's under 25 - usually a fairly hefty extra charge?

gail

I am really confused - you say flight schedules do not mesh. There are 12 arrivals within the time period of 7 AM-8PM on Alaska flights into Portland. How could he not have time to fly but have time to drive or bus the entire distance?

I would be more concerned about his safety driving late at night both ways than riding Greyhound.

Daniel_Williams

Hi

I've taken the 'Hound many a time... from Montreal to NYC (numerous times), Montreal to Boston, Pittsburgh to Baltimore/DC, DC to Williamsburg, Miami to Key West, New Orleans to San Antonio. It's mostly, well, uneventful. One could have bad luck and get seated next to someone unpleasant (luckily for me, hasn't happened yet) just like on an airplane (where it has happened to me).

Worst thing so far was one girl on her way to meet her boyfriend yakked for nearly the entire 7 hours from Mtl-Boston to her neighbour her life story (and earplugs didn't seem to filter out the tenor of her voice). My friend & I groaned when we saw that she was on the SAME bus Boston-Mtl, and were soon to learn that she had sadly been jilted by this boyfriend and yakked to her fellow passenger about what had happened/her life story on the way back for close to the entire time. My friend & I felt we knew everything about her(substitute teacher, Indian but adopted by anglophone Quebec family, tried to find her roots but loved her adopted family, etc etc) after that trip. And truly, if some girl yakking for 14 hours is the worst that's happened to me, mostly Greyhound really hasn't been all that bad. And even though she drove us crazy, we felt kind of happy for her in the end, as she exchanged phone numbers with her compassionate, listening, linebacker-size African-American neighbour and give him a big hug at Burlington, VT, where he got off LOL. A new romance seemed a-brewing LOL.

If he chooses the 'Hound, tell him to bring a good page-turning novel. And perhaps toilet paper.

Have fun deciding!

DANIEL

traveller1959

I once rode a (chartered) Greyhound Bus from Montgomery, AL, to the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta where Jimmy C. gave a reception for us.

The bus drove one hour in circles around the Presidential Center until I unpacked my Atlanta map and directed the driver to the Center where we arrived three minutes later.

I must add that I am not a resident of Atlanta. I am not even American. I am German and since that experience I am wondering about the U.S. education system. (Maybe this is a bit unfair - maybe I should wonder just about Greyhound Inc.).

gbritfl

Definitely not my favorite, I recently took a 3 hour trip and that was way too long on greyhound. It is uncomfortable- the seats are much narrower and tighter than airline seats and do not really recline. Plus the bathroom situation is rough, and the cleanliness of the whole bus is much to be deisired. Plus of course you have "interesting" company. Good luck!

wliwl

My 18 year old takes Greyhound home from college nearly all the time (7 hours). Does he like it? NO! Do I care? NO!!!

wliwl

^ I forgot to add that the bus he usually takes leaves at 6:00 pm and gets in here at 2:00 am. He takes no potty stops (good thing he's only 18) and he packs food cause there is no place to get any.

His strategy is to sit on an aisle seat, wear a big hoody, put in his earphones, pull the hoody over his face. Oh well, it might not be polite, but it is his "survival mechanism" (that's what he calls it).

Greyhound runs very on time and they simply haul out extra buses if they are super busy.

Vttraveler

My son, who graduated from McGill in May, and his girlfriend regularly took buses between Montreal-Vt-Boston during their college years. Earlier this summer he took an overnight bus from DC to Montreal and thought it was ok-hard to sleep but cheap. No concerns at all about safety